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Acts of Kindness
Eugenie lost her lover to a massive heart attack, and she had a bad accident herself, resulting in the loss of her voice. She is grief-stricken, and unable to live in the house filled with memories of Bill, her lover.
She travels some miles up the road and finds a beautiful place to live, and not only that, but meets the best friend of her life, Adele.
Adele has suffered at the cruel hands of her husband, and needs out. She and Genie form a close ...Dream Train
Photographer Joanna James accepts a plum assignment with excitement and some trepidation-to ride the Orient Express and spend five days at the exclusive Cipriani Hotel in Venice, all expenses paid. Her life is complicated when, stopping over in London, she renews relationships with two very different men, leaving her with many decisions to make in the course of the journey.
It turns out to be a trip where lasting friendships are made, hearts are broke...Dreaming in Color
Bobby Salton has had about all the horrible abuse she can take from her husband. Unable to tolerate the terrible situation any longer, she and her little girl Penny take off many miles from home. She finds refuge in a rambling house on Connecticut shore.
Hired as a live-in companion to Alma Ogilivie, Bobby helps the retired headmistress regain her independence. But Bobby's battered appearance has quite a startling effect, especially on Eva Rule, Alma'...Fresh Air
Lucinda Hunter, daughter of the famous late movie star Lily Hunter, lives a solitary life. Now getting on in age, she suffers from agorophobia which prevents her leaving the house for any real length of time. One day, a little black girl named Katanya is by her window. Katanya waves to her and beckons her outside to talk. An instant friendship ensues. Katanya lives in the city but has come to the country for two weeks for the "Fresh Air" program. The fam...

Allen booklist

Grace Notes
Mira, May 2002, 22.95, 240 pp.
ISBN 1551669664
Over two decades have passed since Grace Loring walked out on her abusive husband, taking her infant daughter and moving into her brother's home in Vermont. Grace became a successful writer, creating popular fiction and an autobiography that revealed the horror of spousal abuse. Nicky grows up into a fine and caring young woman but Gus becomes crippled from rheumatoid arthritis, forcing Grace into ...Hidden Meanings
Wynne Shipton is an anonymous writer, living almost as a hermit in a small country town in England. Her daily thrill is to watch a man who lives up the road run past her house every morning, and to wave wordless hello's to each other.
One day, a package for her is delivered to his house, so he goes over there to deliver it and introduce himself.
A relationship between Wynne and Charlie soon ensues.
He finds out that she's a bit of a nut case, with ...Mood Indigo
Set in Manhattan in the brutal winter of 1934, script doctor Honoria Barlow, on behalf of young Chip Stevenson, seeks to solve the mystery of the death of his fiancee DeeDee Carlson. All locations cited in the book are historically accurate....Night Magic
When Erik D'Anton was a small child he was horribly disfigured in a car accident that left both of his parents dead. Used to people responding poorly to his deformity he spends his time alone in his mansion with his loyal servants who deal with the public for him. He is also a brilliant architect and musician, hired by and old friend to design a house. When he makes a rare excursion to his friend's house for dinner, he meets his friend's beautiful sixtee...Parting Gifts
In the story,Kyra Latimer loses her husband early on to a freak accident. She is numb with depression, and can't imagine how she will move on beyond her grief.
Everything quickly changes though from there, when a young woman appears. She has a small abused boy in tow with her. And she claims that Kyra gave her up for adoption 16 years ago, and that Jesse is her grandson. Kyra, knowing this is not true, yet sees the boy's obvious neglect, agrees to kee...Sudden Moves
Mira, Apr 2004, 12.95
ISBN: 0778320367
After twenty-seven years of living is isolation in Connecticut, Lucinda Hunter has somewhat come out of her bubble for FRESH AIR thanks to precocious Harlem resident Katanya Taylor. Lucinda has found her lost family on her father's side and has returned to script writing for her best friend under the pseudonym of Ella van Dyne and even won an Oscar. She watches her young pal Soupboy, who helps her critique...